


A Slippery Situation

by Beleriandings



Category: Torchwood
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M, Post-Episode: s02e01 Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Post-episode: Big Finish audio Dinner and a Show, Tosh and Ianto chat about their love lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:28:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25473145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beleriandings/pseuds/Beleriandings
Summary: Jack's back, and for the team, everything's changed. Or rather, maybe not quite everything.
Relationships: Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones, Owen Harper/Toshiko Sato
Comments: 14
Kudos: 63





	A Slippery Situation

**Author's Note:**

  * For [myotishia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/myotishia/gifts).



> Myo asked for a fic where Ianto and Tosh have bonding time in the Hub while the rest of the team are out doing action-y stuff. I chose to relate it to _Dinner and a Show_ because I've listened to that several times lately and I love it, but I doubt you need to be familiar with that to understand this; it's just Tosh and Ianto chatting about stuff soon after the beginning of s2.

" _Aaaand_.... that's done then" said Tosh, pushing herself backwards on her chair and folding her arms. "They should be back in twenty minutes, assuming current traffic levels."

"Excellent" said Ianto, coming over with a tray bearing two mugs. "I'm glad I cleaned out that large holding tank in sub-basement four last week. Looks like we'll need it." He frowned, handing her a cup of coffee which she accepted with a word of thanks. "Hesitate to ask, but did you wipe the CCTV of them at the dockside?"

"What do you take me for?" said Tosh with a grin, taking a sip of coffee. "Of course I did."

Ianto nodded. "Probably best for the sake of the world in general" he said, still staring at Tosh's screen in something like disturbed fascination as he cradled his own mug.

"Honestly I'm surprised they managed to fit the entirety of that thing in the SUV at all" said Tosh. "All those tentacles... like Tetris. But with tentacles. Obviously."

"...Tentris."

She laughed. "Really quite impressive."

Ianto's mouth twitched up at one side, eyes unfocussing for a brief moment. "Oh, you know. Jack has his ways."

"Oh, _does_ he?" Tosh couldn't keep the curiosity out of her voice, turning in her chair so she was facing him head-on. She raised her eyebrow. "So. Not missing him quite so much now?"

"Oh, damn. Was it the tentacle-related innuendo that gave it away?"

"No. Well, yes, but also the bruise on your neck that I assume didn't come from falling down... your collar doesn't quite cover it you know."

Ianto's hand flew to the place. "Oh" he said.

"Well???" she leaned forward a little, conspiratorial and eager. "I guess you forgave him then. Did you talk it through?"

Ianto raised an eyebrow, setting his coffee down. "Something like that."

"You... oh my god Ianto, have you not talked about it yet?"

"Well..."

Tosh sighed, rolling her eyes. "You slept with him but you haven't talked yet? About him running off on you? On all of us?"

Ianto gave her a pained look, that said quite clearly _well what was I supposed to do?_

Tosh sighed. "Ianto" she said, a little more gently. "That time at the Millennium Centre... the way you were. Whatever you and Jack were before... I hope you won't take it the wrong way if I said it seems like you want more than that now."

He opened his mouth and closed it again. "He asked me on a _date_ , Tosh" he blurted at last, a little strangled.

She blinked. "Wait, what?"

"I _know_ " said Ianto, sounding like he didn't quite believe it himself.

"Like, a proper date. With, oh, I don't know, drinks and stuff." 

"Drinks, dinner and a movie" said Ianto.

"Since when did Jack _do_ that kind of thing?"

"Since he came back, apparently" said Ianto, shrugging. "He asked me that first day, after John _bloody_ Hart. Actually, while we were searching that office building together."

"...Wow" said Tosh, not knowing what else to say. "And you said _yes_? And actually went on a date with him?"

Ianto narrowed his eyes. "Not sure if I'm being insulted right now, but yes. I did."

"Honestly, I didn't mean anything by it. I'm just curious. ...How was it?"

Ianto frowned. "...Weird" he admitted at last. "I'd never thought we'd be... like that. Before, I mean. But he's different now, and I think I'm different too, and..." he shrugged. "It was nice."

She stared at him for a moment, then snorted. "Says the hickey on your neck. Snogging like teenagers in the back of the cinema, were you?"

He blushed a little. "Actually I want it on the record that that happened _afterwards_ , in my flat, thank you very much" he said, with as much dignity as he could salvage.

She swatted his arm lightly. "Oh, Ianto. I'm just joking. I'm happy for you!"

"Are you?"

"Of course!" her smile dropped away. "I don't want you to get hurt..."

He smiled too, a little sadly, but at the same time filled with more quiet, suppressed hope than she'd ever seen on him. Like a flower growing through a crack in the pavement, she thought. "Thanks. But I'll be okay now" he said softly. Then he looked up, arching an eyebrow. "What about you?"

"Me?" she said, but she knew what he was talking about. It had been like this since that night they'd sat on the Millennium Centre roof, drinking warm, flat Prosecco, bruised and bloodied and hurting. She'd been just a little too sobered up by then, angry and restless and _hurting_ after Owen had stood her up. Ianto had been quiet in his hurt, holding his broken heart like it caused him pain all the time, like the pieces of a shattered cup.

But since then, they'd kept just a bit of a closer eye on each other; it had become an understanding they had. She sighed. "I'm okay" she said.

"...Are you?" Ianto tilted his head. "Because... I don't know. I think the trip to the Himalayas changed things for Owen..."

"Made him realise he wanted to spend even less time around the lot of us, including me you mean."

Ianto frowned. "Don't know" he admitted. "But it changed _something_. Jack being away affected Owen too, I think. And Gwen. And us, too."

She sighed. "Well, he's back now. So, it doesn't matter, either way."

"I think it does" he persisted. "I think, after this, we've all changed a bit. I think it'll stick."

She raised her eyebrows. "That's... Ianto, that's..."

But at that moment, the cog door alarm went off, klaxon blaring as Gwen, Jack and Owen came in, awkwardly hefting a stretcher between the three of them. On it was a huge, misshapen, tentacled mass, whose protrusions kept spilling off the stretcher; while Owen and Jack carried an end each, Gwen kept having to dart around and grab armfuls of them to keep them from trailing slime on the floor.

"-reminds me of that time at the orbiting bar above the planet's surface" Jack was saying. " _Phalanges and Pheelers_ , it was called, and god _damn_ did they deliver on the promise of that name-" he broke off, breaking into a grin. "Ianto! Tosh! Gonna need that tank for our newest guest, is it ready? Only, once this sedative wears off it won't be pretty." He winked, clearly delighted. "Unless you're into that, of course."

Tosh and Ianto exchanged a look, as Owen scoffed and began to peel off his slime-covered leather jacket, bumping into Gwen who yelped, dropping an armful of sloppy alien appendage on the floor and nearly tripping.

"Well" said Ianto, grimly stripping off his suit jacket and rolling up his sleeves. "I was going to say everything would change, but..."

"Yeah" said Tosh, downing the rest of her coffee to fortify herself, following him with a grin. "Maybe not everything."


End file.
